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Employees of the secure unit at the Joliette Institution for Women in Joliette, Que., are testifying at the Ontario coroner's inquest into the death of Ashley Smith on Wednesday.

Smith spent time at the Quebec institution for a month in 2007.

The inquest, which started on Jan. 14, has heard testimony from Smith's mother, several guards and a prison supervisor who said they were uncomfortable with orders to ignore Smith and not enter her cell to remove ligatures around her neck as long as she was breathing.